While you're complaining about the cost of gasoline

Please remember to shut the hell up and think about what you're doing for a minute. Where I live (Tampa, FL) the average price of gas is about $1.75 per gallon. Yup, that's higher that I'm used to paying. It's a lot higher. But before you go off spouting about the evil oil conglomerates, there are a few things you should think about. First of all, of that $1.75 per gallon price, almost a third of it is straight taxes already figured into the price. Also, think about this. While our elected officials are out promising to get to the bottom of the "price gouging", did you know that there is actually a minimum price companies are aloud to charge to make sure "the little guy can stay competitive"? Betcha didn't. I wanna take this into context a little bit more. Like I said, yes $1.75 is higher than I'm used to paying. But you now how much they pay in Europe (serves their socialist asses right)? If you guessed around $5 per gallon, you'd be right. Also remember that our good friends at OPEC dropped production of petro yesterday. I'm still trying to think of a good reason for this, but that's OPEC for ya. Since they supply about a third of the worlds' petro, that's a good clue as to why the gas prices are so high. And before you go blaming the big bad oil execs' remember this. They are paying more for the product just like we are. Their job is to make as much money for their company as possible. To do that, they need to pass the extra costs incured onto the consumer. That would be us, in case you were wondering. Also, think about this, we're paying $1.75 for the gas in our car. How much did you pay for that bottle of milk in your refigerator? If it's similar to what I pay, it's over $3 per gallon. Three bucks per gallon for something that comes out of a cow's tit?? And what about that bottled water you're drinking? A 20oz bottle of water generally costs ya about a buck. A buck, for 20oz of something you can get for FREE out of your freakin' tap for crying out loud! Just think about these the next time you want to scream at Mr. Big Bad Oil Man when you have to fill up your tank next time.